Westward Women - by Alice Martin (Hardcover)

Book Synopsis

For fans of Emma Cline and Emily St. John Mandel, Westward Women is a hypnotic and hopeful debut--part fever dream, part dystopian road trip.

"An audacious first novel to set beside Margaret Atwood." - Joyce Carol Oates

It starts with an itch.

In homes across the country, women ages eighteen to thirty-five begin to slow down.

Tired. Blank. Restless.

Drawn to the Pacific Ocean like it's calling them home. They abandon their lives--jobs, families, their very selves. And once they reach the West, they vanish forever.

At the center of the story are three young women caught in the pull of something unstoppable.

Aimee follows the trail of her missing best friend to a man called the Piper--known for leading infected women West.

Teenie, afflicted and unraveling, clings to a single memory as she looks out the window of the Piper's van.

And Eve, a former journalist, is chasing the story that might just consume her.

Each on the edge of transformation. Drawn toward the unknown. In search of a way forward.

Review Quotes

"Alice Martin has written a warmly engaging parable about young women who become 'infected' with a mysterious virus that leads them to abandon their homes and travel westward--to uncertain destinies. Set in America in the waning years of the Vietnam War, ending in near-contemporary times, Westward Women has an air of prophecy enhanced by its close attentiveness to the intimate lives of girls and women. An audacious first novel to set beside Margaret Atwood's provocative first novel The Edible Woman." --Joyce Carol Oates

"This taut and shocking debut is part Western, part zombie thriller, and all cautionary tale about what happens when women's bodies and desires are marginalized for too long. With twists you won't see coming, Martin weaves an alternate history that's only too relevant today." --Anna North, New York Times bestselling author of Outlawed

"A dazzlingly skilled novel. Clever and insidious, it gets under your skin like a virus and doesn't leave until the last page." --Dana Schwartz, New York Times bestselling author of Anatomy: A Love Story

"Magnificent, gorgeous and richly imagined, Westward Women is a wonder. The characters crawled into my bones and will stay there forever. A truly brilliant debut." --Annie Hartnett, author of The Road to Tender Hearts

"Westward Women is a speculative feminist road trip thriller unlike any other. An incredible ride from start to finish, this is a novel you'll want to both savor and burn through. A chilling, unforgettable, and ultimately hopeful story that will get under your skin and stay there." --Gina Chung, author of Sea Change and Green Frog

"Exceptionally written and all-consuming, this is an intimate, nostalgic, and downright terrifying fable about women's instincts as a means for survival. Westward Women had me at every turn, and stayed with me long after I'd put it down." --Olivia Gatwood, author of Whoever You Are, Honey

"Westward Women is a wholly original look at what it means to be female, itching with fear and promise and the desire to find your true self in the face of constant interference. Alice Martin writes with eloquence about an imaginary-yet-oh-so-familiar world where a mysterious illness overtakes the female population. Through the lens of three brave women, the question of who will understand and protect, turn away, or take advantage is explored in an epic road trip novel that is impossible to put down." --Rachel Moulton, author of The Insatiable Volt Sisters and Tinfoil Butterfly

"In the literary tradition of Margaret Atwood and Sylvia Plath, this brave and original novel explores female agency, choice, and liberty set against a rich and authentic 1970s backdrop. It had me frothing at the mouth. Timely, terrifying and bold, Westward Women infected me in all the best ways!" --Dawn Kurtagich, award-winning author of The Madness and The Thorns

"This is speculative fiction in its truest form: no easy outs, no cheap gimmicks. In Westward Women, an altered world unearths the mess of love and hurt and power that defines our real and everyday lives. A remarkable debut." --Anise Vance, author of Hush Harbor

"This novel. An all-American fever dream of manipulation, bodily autonomy, and what it means to be free. I'm still haunted." --Lee Clay Johnson, author of Nitro Mountain

"An astonishing debut that will leave you thinking long after you close its cover. A story about misunderstood women that is so needed at this time when society seems to understand us less and less. No need to pack a bag, just head west with Alice Martín . . . I promise you'll be glad you did." --Ann Dávila Cardinal, author of We Need No Wings

About the Author